


Smoke, Drums and Stories On Skin

by SereneCalamity



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments (Movies), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alternate Universe, Background Relationships, Drummer!Jace, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Tattooist!Clary, band au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2019-08-10 00:16:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16459814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SereneCalamity/pseuds/SereneCalamity
Summary: Clary is a tattoo artist who is quickly becoming obsessed with the drummer of a new band she's discovered through her friend. Jace is interested in finding all of the stories on her skin, both the ink, and otherwise.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> New story!  
> Disclaimer: I do not own the characters.

"I'm pretty sure I would get pregnant if I sat down on one of these booths," Clarissa Morgenstern stated with a raise of a pierced eyebrow as she looked around. It wasn't really an insult to the establishment that they were in, more of an observation. Magnus Bane let out a laugh as he slung an arm around her shoulder and pulled her in close, brushing his lips against her ear, touching the metal studs that were lined up and down the lobe.

"Trust me, you won't regret this," he promised her.

"Yeah, yeah," Clary rolled her eyes, but she was grinning, and she reached out to grab at Simon Lewis' hand, making sure the three of them didn't get separated in the throngs of people. The air was saturated with the smell of cigarettes and weed and alcohol and sweat, but Clary didn't mind, it sort of just smelt normal to her. The room felt thick and heavy, and Magnus lead the way into the mosh pit of people who had gathered in front of the stage.

"Hey, pretty girl," came a growl from next to Clary and she turned her eyes to the man who was standing there. He was attractive, yeah, but he had this leer in his eyes, and Clary instantly leaned forward to kiss Simon hard on the mouth, making it clear she wasn't interested.

"Sorry," she shot at the man. "Taken." The man glanced Simon up and down, who was more than used to playing the role of Clary's boyfriend when she was being hit on, straightened his back and put an arm around Clary's shoulders. He leaned in and kissed her again, and Clary let her body fall forward slightly against his. The man huffed and shifted his attention on to a blonde with bright pink and purple streaks through her hair. "Ick," Clary made a face at his back and then shuffled around so that she standing between Magnus and Simon. "Pervs."

"Oh yes," Magnus smirked down at her, pursing his glossed lips together. "It must really suck being a hot piece of ass." Clary threw up the finger at him before focusing her eyes back on the stage.

"What time does your man come on?" She asked distractedly, needing to raise her voice to be heard over the music that was pounding through the speakers and the shouting from the crowd.

"They'll be on in about five minutes!" Magnus shouted back at her. A few weeks ago, Magnus had met a boy at a club and had gone off the grid for almost five days. It wasn't often that Magnus went back to any of his one night stands, but he seemed pretty taken by this one, and it hadn't taken much to convince Simon and Clarry to come along to a night when their band was performing at a bar downtown. It wasn't a bar that Clary came to often—actually, she was pretty sure she had never come here before—although maybe she would come here in the future. It wasn't overflowing with a bunch of girls in tiny tee-shirts and there wasn't fancy pink drinks with little umbrella's being served.

She liked the smell of weed and alcohol, it smelt like her apartment, and the music they were playing were the Dead Kennedys, which wasn't played in the average night club, so she appreciated that. While the atmosphere might not be everyone's sort of thing, she liked it, it kind of turned her on.

"Alright, alright, alright!" Came a scream into the microphone, a petite blue haired girl taking centre stage in front of the thick curtain that was shielding the rest of the stage from the audience. "We've got one of the local favourites on tonight!" A cheer went up from the crowd, a thundering against Clary's eardrums. "So without making you fuckers wait any longer, let's welcome  _Downworlders_  onto the stage!" The screams and cheers and clapping got even louder and Clary let out a laugh, flicking her tongue out so that that piercing clicked against her tongue. The curtain drew back and revealed the band standing behind it.

"That's him," Magnus nudged Clary in the side, maybe a little bit too roughly because she was thrown off balance slightly. "Lead singer." Clary's eyes instantly narrowed in on the man standing in the front and she smirked, able to see exactly what Magnus saw in the man in front of the microphone. He had dark hair with streaks of purple through it, and his eyes were rimmed in dark kohl. He was wearing a pair of tight black jeans and a white, sleeveless tank top that had low cut arm holes, showing off plenty of tanned skin underneath.

He was fucking gorgeous.

If Magnus wasn't head over heels, Clary would be making a move after the gig. She finally let her eyes move to the others who were on stage with him, and she rolled her eyes, because of  _course_ , they were all as beautiful as Magnus' man. There was a pretty girl who had similar features to the lead singer, and she had purple and blue streaks through her long hair, one side shaved close to her head. She had a hoop through the corner of her lip, and two in one of her eyebrows and a guitar in her arms. Then there was a boy who's hair was entirely dyed red and he had gauges in both ears and a spike through his lip and he had a bass guitar. There looked like there were a hundred thick silver rings around his fingers as he tapped his hand against the instrument.

And then, holy shit.

Then there was the drummer.

The  _drummer_.

Clary was pretty sure her panties were wet all the way through.

He had blonde hair that was shaggy, almost reaching his shoulders, and unlike the rest of his band mates, it was only the one colour, but he still fit in perfectly with the rest of them. He had a sleeveless black tank top on that showed off his biceps and broad shoulders, and there were tattoo's curling up and down his arms. Clary wanted to lick them. There was a cigarette in the corner of his mouth and smoke curling up around his face, and he had two studs under his lower lip on the right hand side, and then a ring in the left side. On a lot of people that would be overkill, but he pulled it off. He pulled it off well. Then there was the ring through his eyebrow and two more in one of his ears.

And he kept spinning the drum stick in one of his hands, through his long fingers, around and around.

The things that Clary wanted those fingers to do to her.

"I want one," she whimpered into Magnus' ear, and her friend let out a laugh.

"Shit, Red, keep it in your pants," he teased her. "His name is Jace, I'll introduce you after."

"I'll love you forever," Clary promised, tucking her hand into the bend in his arm.

"Yeah you will," Magnus smirked and then they both went quiet when the lead singer leaned into his microphone.

"Hey, everyone. We're  _Downworlders_ , and we want to say thank you for coming out tonight!" He spoke quickly and didn't really look at the crowd, a few bright blue curls fall in front of his face, before another cheer went up and suddenly the drummer was slamming his sticks against his drum set.

They were good.

The group had chemistry between them, which could be seen in the way they moved with each other and spoke between songs and touched one another. It was the same sort of way that Magnus and Simon moved around her. Mainly, the band did covers; a mixture of genres with their own rock twist on it, sometimes changing up the words a little. There were two original songs thrown in there as well, which weren't bad at all. Clary was getting jostled as everyone jumped and sang along, and she was more than happy to join in. When they finished, it was the girl who spoke into one of the microphones.

"Thank you so fucking much! You guys are amazing!" She screamed, and she flicked her hair over her shoulder. "We'll see you next time!" Simon was blinking up at the girl, his eyes wide behind the thick rimmed hipster glasses he was wearing and Clary laughed at him, nudging him in the ribs with her elbow. The four of them filed off stage, and then the next band was being introduced.

"Okay, come on," Magnus pulled on Clary's arm. "Let's go." They somehow managed to get to the side of the mosh pit, both boys sheltering Clary in the middle although there was still a lot of sweat that got transferred and some shoves and pushes from people. They got around to the side where there was a door and a burly bouncer standing there, his arms crossed over his chest. "Uh, we're with the band?" Magnus raised his eyebrow. "My name's Magnus." For a moment, it looked as though the bouncer wasn't going to move. But then he gave a short nod and stepped aside. Magnus turned to wiggle his eyebrows at Clary and Simon before leading them behind the stage. The music coming from the stage wasn't quite as loud, the walls must have something noise cancelling built into them, but it was still loud enough for them to make out each word of the song now playing.

"Magnus!" Came a shout and Magnus picked up the pace, running directly toward the tall, dark haired man with purple streaks in his hair. The kiss they exchanged looked filthy and Clary smirked as she glanced them up and down. When they pulled apart, the man looked over Magnus' shoulder with a raised eyebrow, his hazel eyes sweeping over Clary and Simon. "These your friends?" He asked.

"This is my Clary, and my Simon," Magnus replied as he half turned to look back at them. Simon made a stammering noise under his breath, which was typical of him, and Clary stepped up to give a little half wave.

"Hey. You guys kicked ass," she complimented and there was a small smile pulling at the corner of his full mouth.

"I'm Alec," he introduced himself, rather unnecessarily. The hot red haired bass guitarist strolled over to them, an interested look on his face as he stared past Magnus, past Clary, and straight at Simon. Simon shuffled from side to side but met the man's eyes unabashedly, biting down on his lower lip.

"Because that's not totally obvious or anything," Clary said under her breath to Magnus, who snorted.

"Yo, Alec!" There was a yell from behind the red haired man and Clary felt the nerves in her body light on fire as the gorgeous golden haired drummer suddenly appeared, his tongue playing with the ring in the corner of his mouth. The tease of the tip of his tongue undoubtedly made her pupils dilate and she was glad that the lighting was dark and wouldn't show up the slight blush on her cheeks. "You ready to head out of here? We gotta pick up Max." He seemed to realize that his friend wasn't alone because he tilted his head to take in the three extra's and when his eyes landed on Clary there was an unmistakable up and down look before giving her a slow, sensuous smirk.

"Yeah, I know," Alec Lightwood sighed as he turned back to Magnus. "Sorry, we need to rush out. Thanks for coming."

"Sure thing, pretty eyes," Magnus flirted. "I'll send you a text when I'm free next so we can...Meet up." Clary snorted and Magnus shot her a look.

"I will," Alec grinned boyishly, glancing back at Simon and Clary. "Nice meeting you guys. I'll see you around some other time."

"Same here," Clary answered, although her eyes quickly shifted back to the drummer, who was still staring at her with that ridiculous smirk that she wanted to eat off his face, and suck on the piercings in his lip. When he turned to follow after Alec and the bass guitarist, he glanced over his shoulder one last time before they were out of view.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An update! Thanks for your patience :)

It was quiet this afternoon, which Clary was grateful for. She didn't have anyone booked in from two o'clock onwards, and so she was going to work on a tattoo design for a woman that she was going to be inking next week. It was a woman she had tattooed before about a year ago when her daughter was first born, and she was actually adding onto the one that she had originally done. Kaelie Whitewillow dealt with the piercings, and there were still people coming in during the afternoon to see her, but they were all walk ins. Magnus was also a tattooist, like Clary, who would usually be in the room next to her, however he wasn't working today.

 _"Would you bleed for me? Lick it off my lips like you needed me_?" Clary sung out as she moved around her back room of the tattoos parlour, tapping her fingers against the surfaces she was passing. " _Would you sit me on the couch, with your fingers in my mouth—_ "

"Clary?" It was Magnus' voice behind her and Clary didn't bother to turn around as the chorus started, wiggling her fingers over her shoulder by way of greeting at her friend.

" _Let's cause a little trouble_ ," she finally started to turn around, twirling her charcoal pencil in her fingers. " _Oh, you make me feel so weak_ —" she broke off when she realized that it wasn't just Magnus standing there.

It was the drummer.

Jace.

The one who looked like he had magic fingers.

"What's up?" She raise an eyebrow at them, not particularly embarrassed with being caught, but definitely surprised. She hadn't expected to see him around so soon. "And what are you doing here on your day off?"

Or here.

She hadn't expected to see him  _here_.

"You remember Jace?" Magnus' voice had a slight teasing lilt to it, and if they were alone, she would grab his nose ring and give it a painful tug. "The drummer from the band that Alexander's in?"

"I do," Clary nodded and then tilted her head to the side, playing with the metal ball in her tongue, tapping it against her teeth and letting her gaze run languidly up and down the beautiful drummer. He was doing the exact same thing back at her, and he was playing with the metal ring in the corner of his mouth, similar the way that she was playing with her tongue piercing.

"He knew that I worked at a tattoo parlor, and wanted the recommendation of the best tattooist in the city," Magnus smirked at her. "Naturally, I told him myself, however I wasn't working today, so I thought that he might want to...Check  _you_  out." There was so much innuendo packed into Magnus' tone that there was no way in hell Jace could miss it even if he didn't know Magnus and his teasing ways, and Clary rolled her eyes.

"Whatever, Mags, fuck off and I'll talk to him," she said, making it out as though she was doing her friend some huge favor, when in reality, it was the other way around.

She really hoped that he wanted her to consult for a tattoo somewhere under his shirt.

Or under his pants.

Or they could scratch the tattooing thing all together, and just let her get into his pants and onto his cock.

"I'll see you later, babe," Magnus sung out before disappearing. She could vaguely hear him and Kaelie talking outside, but her attention full shifted to rest on the drummer.

Jace.

Beautiful Jace.

"So what can I help you with today?" Clary asked, pulling over a stool from the a few feet away and settling on it, hooking her ankles behind the metal legs. "Are you looking at a whole new tattoo, or adding onto one?" Jace gave her an easy smile as he entered the room, pulling at one of the other stools and stopping it directly in front of her, straddling it and lazily folding his arms across his chest. He was wearing skinny jeans with a rip in one knee and a tee shirt that tightened across his biceps and chest when he folded his arms, showing off most of the tattoo on one of his arms.

"Adding to one," he told her. Without any further preamble, he straightened up on the stool and gripped the hem of his shirt, pulling it over his head and letting it fall to the ground. Clary couldn't help the way her pupils dilated, and she didn't doubt for a moment that he saw the way the exposure of his torso affected him, because he grinned at her and wiggled his eyebrows.

"Stand up," Clary said, crooking her finger at him. "And let me look." Jace seemed a little surprised at how forward she was being, maybe he thought that she was going to act shy, but he got off the stool and stepped toward her. He turned side on so that she could get a proper look at the tattoo. Despite how gorgeous he was, and how amazing he smelt, as soon as she slipped into artist mode, he became a canvas, and she could switch off the fact that she wanted to climb this man like a tree. At least temporarily. "This is amazing," she commented as she wrapped her hand around his wrist and turned his arm and lifted it to get a proper look at the tattoo. It was all in black ink, which was unusual for such a large tattoo, and there was so much more detail to it than what she had thought when she had caught a glimpse of it at the live show.

On the inside of his arm was a tree, coloured in dark so not just an outline, with it's roots starting on his hand, around his wrist and inching onto his palm and the back of his hand for several centimeters. The trunk climbed steadily up his arm, with branches extending out, toward other tattoo's that clearly had meaning. There were musical notes, and several initials, what looked like a licence plate for a vehicle, a flower, a detailed feather, two different dates, an old fashioned microphone, an intricate design of an eye with lashes curling upward—and probably more that Clary hadn't registered yet.

"This is amazing," Clary repeated, not even caring that she sounded breathy. She traced her finger over the piano music that curled around his bicep, pressing down on his tanned skin as she followed down the trunk of the tree. She heard him take in a breath as her thumb brushed over the feather that was on the inside of his forearm, but she chose to ignore it. Long minutes past by, but Jace didn't pull his arm away, letting her study the memories that were etched into his skin even if she didn't understand them all. Finally she let her hand drop away and tilted her head to the side. "They've all been done at different times, right?" Even though the tattoo's were all done incredibly, to the trained eye, she could detect the different strokes and style of art work.

"Yeah, I've been adding to it since I was seventeen," Jace agreed.

"They're absolutely incredible," Clary stated. "I'm guessing they all mean something?"

"More or less," Jace nodded once, his chin jerking forward. "I mean, there's a couple which could definitely mean  _more_ , but I still love them, and I don't regret them." There was something about the way that he wasn't letting go of her gaze that was making Clary's skin heat all over. She gave him a quick smile and cleared her throat.

"At least you didn't go somewhere cheap when you were starting out—you know, when you were a teenager," Clary noted as she looked at what she assumed was the oldest ink, over his wrist.

"God, yes," Jace let out a huff of a laugh. "My dad's a fucking ass, but at least he's useful. He was all about throwing money at problems to try and make them go away, so he paid for a bunch of them unknowingly."

"Thank god for douchebag parents," Clary joked, and Jace grinned at her. His golden eyes danced a little, and she noted under the bright lights from the overhead lamps that were directed toward the centre of the room where she did the tattooing. "So what was it that you were thinking about adding to it?"

"Two words," Jace said, digging into his pocket for a scrap of paper. "And then this drawing, but obviously this is just a shitty sketch, you'll need to touch it up." Clary took the piece of paper from him and flattened it out.  _Carpe noctem_.

"Isn't the saying  _carpe diem_?" She asked with a raise of one eyebrow.

" _Carpe diem_  means 'seize the day'.  _Carpe noctem_  is 'seize the night', which applies more to me," he replied. Clary just nodded as she kept looking at the paper. It looked like a pocket watch, with the numbers three, six, nine and twelve in numerals, and inside the outline of the watch and the numbers was the New York skyline. The top was filled in dark and then faded out near the bottom. It was definitely only a rough sketch, but she got an idea of what he was going for.

"Okay, uh, give me a couple of minutes, okay?" Clary mumbled without looking at him as she spun around in the stool she was on and pulled her sketch pad over and picked up a pencil. She leaned against one of the tables that ran along the wall, and bent forward to begin her sketch. Jace moved around a little behind her, probably putting his shirt back on, but then he went quiet. She wasn't paying much attention, as her pencil skimmed over the page, quickly redoing it with more skill. She would do it again before they actually went through with a tattoo, but she needed to make sure she was on the right track first. She turned around, holding up her pad and showing it to him. "Is this the sort of thing you were thinking?" She asked. Jace took the pad from her and looked at it with a smile.

"Absolutely," he murmured. "It's perfect." He looked up at her, pulling his lower lip into his mouth, sucking on that ring in the corner of his mouth. The look in his eyes shifted into something almost predatory and Clary swallowed hard as his gaze settled over her. He held the pad back out to her, but when she took it, he didn't let go of his side. "So when can I make a date?"

"A date?" Clary questioned, her lips curling into a half smile.

"For the tattoo," Jace clarified, although he was smirking right back at her, and Clary didn't doubt that he was also talking about something other than the tattoo as well. But he was going to need to ask properly if he was after something more than her ink.

"Just head out to the front desk," Clary gave him an innocent smile, widening her big, green eyes. "Kaelie's out there, and she does all the bookings." Jace grinned at her and nodded, finally letting the pad go so that she could put it down on the table. Her eyes drifted down to his ass as he walked away, toward the door. Before leaving, he turned around as though to say goodbye, and completely caught her checking him out. His grin widened even more, and he lifted two fingers to his forehead and gave her a little salute, and then disappeared.


	3. Chapter 3

"Okay! Let's go back to the top!" Alec shouted out.

"No!" Isabelle Lightwood snapped, shaking out her wrists and running a hand though her hair. "I need a smoke break!" She was in a bad mood, and her and Raphael Santiago had been snipping at each other the whole afternoon, ever since they had started their practice at four, which undoubtedly meant that they had gotten into some sort of lovers spat last night, because yesterday things had been fine between them. But then they were always getting into arguments every other day, just before they fell back into bed together, so they weren't really concerned about it.

"You gonna go after her and try to sort this shit out?" Alec grunted at Raphael, who was still standing there, plucking at his bass guitar. He made a face at Alec, but took off the strap of his guitar and walked after Isabelle. "I'm so fucking over those two."

"You're just over anyone who's doing your sister," Jace smirked.

"Yeah, well, I don't expect you to understand," Alec scrunched up his nose in Jace's direction, and the golden haired boy just shrugged and laughed. The two of them were quiet for a couple of minutes—Alec fiddling with around on his phone while Jace picked up a pencil and made a couple of adjustments to a new song he was writing. Alec's phone let out a loud ping, announcing a text, and a second later, there was a grin on his face.

"Magnus?" Jace guessed knowingly.

"Mm," Alec mumbled as his thumbs raced over the keys to respond. Jace snorted at the expression on his cousins face as he waited until Alec had finished his message and looked up.

"Are you ever gonna actually ask him out?" Jace raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, we'll see," Alec shrugged noncommittally.

"Come on, man! You're kind of obsessed," Jace dropped his pencil and the ragged looking notebook he had been scribbling in, twirling one of his drumsticks around between his fingers. "And he seems pretty into you—came to the show the other night, and you've been at his place all the time. And I know you're not getting with anyone else, and it's been a while, right? That sounds kind of serious?" Alec smile had faded slightly and he shrugged. Jace frowned at the expression. "What is it?"

"I don't really know if he's into the whole relationship sort of thing," he admitted quietly.

"What—you asked him?"

"No," Alec muttered.

"Then how do you know?" Jace asked pointedly.

"Just some of the things he's said...I mean, that first night that we hooked was great—"

"Given the two of you disappeared for almost a whole week and called in sick to work so that you could have a five day sex fest, we all kind of gathered that it was great," Jace smirked.

" _But_ ," Alec continued with a glare in Jace's direction. "It's only been a month. And I know that he wasn't planning on a relationship when we first started fooling around, because when we were having dinner one night, he mentioned something about an ex-girlfriend getting too clingy, and said that he was damn happy being single. So...That sort of makes it seem like he doesn't want something exclusive?"

"That means that he didn't want to be with that last chick," Jace pointed out. "How are you going to know if that applies to you unless you ask?" Alec just huffed under his breath and went back to focusing on his phone. Jace rolled his eyes at his angst ridden cousin and looked back down at his notepad. Isabelle and Raphael came stalking back in a couple of minutes later, neither of them looking particularly happy, but at least they picked up their instruments and got in position to start playing.

It was almost eleven o'clock before they all broke off rehearsal, Isabelle and Raphael seeming to be in a better place now, because they went off with their arms wrapped around each other, and Alec had gotten a call from Magnus, asking to meet up. Jace was left to lock up the garage—a garage that they were lucky enough to have a boss who let them use for practice. Jace and Alec worked part time at the garage and Hodge Starkweather let them practice in the garage as long as they didn't get too many noise complaints. Afterwards, Jace got on his motorbike, strapping on his helmet and pulled away from the curb of the road, deftly navigating his way through the New York traffic.

Clary.

She was  _gorgeous_.

Her eyes were vibrant green, her hair was dyed a dark red colour, and the tattoo's up and down her arms and piercings in her ears and nose.

Okay, so maybe she didn't  _look_  like anything particularly special. This was New York, there were a hell of a lot of pretty girls around, and a lot of them were more than happy to throw themselves at Jace. During his late teens and the first few years of his twenties, he had made his way through a lot of those pretty girls.

But there was this energy about her that drew him in and made him want to get to know her better, and was what he wanted to chase after.

It had been nearly six months since he had slept with anyone, and even though the tension that came to him when he was alone in the shower or when he was drunk, stumbling back to his apartment, was becoming slightly unbearable, but after his last girlfriend, he was being a bit more careful this time. Besides, the tension was able to be staved off by his left hand, even if it wasn't the most satisfactory of options.

His last girlfriend, Lydia Branwell, had seemed like a sweetheart. She wasn't quite as into the whole band scene as he was, and apart from one stud in each ear and a tiny tattoo of the her little sisters birth date on her hip, she had no other body modifications. She wasn't typically the girl that he went after, but they had got on well. She had a job as a manager in a retail outlet and was going through University to get a journalism degree. They had dated for over a year, almost fifteen months, until he found out that she had been cheating on him pretty much the whole time. Lydia had told him that she had been in a long term relationship that had ended when she left high school and went off to University, but it seemed as though a couple of months after she and Jace got together, the old boyfriend had shown up and they had rekindled.

Jace's father had cheated on his mother almost all his life, and it had ruined her life. As a rule, he stayed as far away from people like that as possible, and then he had unwittingly shared a bed with one for over a year.

There had been a couple of one night stands after her, and then Jace had decided to just be by himself for a while. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy the whole one-and-done routine, but he had liked what he had had with Lydia while it had lasted. He liked getting to know someone and them getting to know him, and the whole thing not being a sloppy, alcohol fused encounter. It wasn't necessarily that he wanted a girlfriend, more just like...a girl that was his friend and who he could have regular sex with.

Unfortunately, there wasn't really anyone who fit that criteria, so here he was, six months later, returning home to an empty apartment.

* * *

"Honey, I'm home!" Clary sung out as she opened the front door to her apartment, knowing that Simon was inside, even though he had a particularly nice apartment of his own just one block away. Simon grinned up at her from where he was sprawled out on her couch, flicking through the Netflix menu, looking for something to settle on. "What we watching?" She asked as she dropped her bag to the ground and kicked off her shoes.

"I was thinking  _Narco's_?" He suggested. "Maybe  _The Last Kingdom_?"

"Why are we going for something serious?" Clary pouted as she shrugged out of her jacket and then flopped down onto the arm chair beside the couch, her designated seat. "What about... _That 70's Show_?"

"Or we could go for a movie?" Simon began as Clary began pulling off the bracelets around both of her wrists, and unhooking her watch. Simon gave her a long look out of the corner of his eye as the multiple bracelets—woven leather, beads, linked chains—the multiple bracelets that she always wore before looking back at the TV. "How about  _Hot Fuzz_? I'm always down for some Simon Pegg."

"Sounds good," Clary grinned and propped her feet up on the coffee table. "Ooh, guess who came into the shop today?"

"Who?" Simon lifted an eyebrow at her as he selected  _Hot Fuzz_  from the list.

"Jace, the hot drummer," Clary wiggled her eyebrows as she rubbed her fingers absentmindedly over the skin of her wrists after they had been wrapped up all day. "He wants me to add to his tattoo."

"And I bet you're just jumping at the chance to get your hands on his skin," Simon smirked.

"You know me oh so well," Clary's grin widened. "The art work he already has is pretty damn gorgeous to be honest, at least he's been getting it done at good places rather than any of the shitty stuff." The movie started and Simon wriggled into a more comfortable position and folded his arms under his chin to prop his face up. "Anyway, he's given me a sketch. I'll work on it tomorrow, look at adding to it."

"So are you going to have him pay for this piece of art work in sexual favors?" Simon joked.

"Hey! I'm a complete professional, I'll have you know!" Clary protested. "Besides," she tilted her head to the side. "You know that Kaelie would never forgive me for doing a client when she had a a total thing for that blondie who kept coming in for more eyebrow piercings and we banned her from seeing him."

"You and Magnus didn't ban her from seeing him because he was a client," Simon pointed out. "You banned him from seeing her because the only reason he kept coming back for piercings was because the dude was a low grade stalker."

"True that," Clary scrunched up her nose. "To be totally honest, Kaelie has an absolutely horrific sense in men, and should only ever listen to me or Magnus before she sleeps with anyone.  _Ever_." The two of them fell quiet for a long few minutes, watching as Simon Pegg was bounced through management as he tried to determine who it was that was ordering him out of the city, and then Simon spoke again, his words mumbled.

"I thought that bass guitarist was pretty hot." Clary grinned and picked up a cushion, throwing it at her friend.

"How weird would that be?" She laughed. "Magnus and Alec, me and Jace, you and the red haired guy."

"I think you might be jumping to conclusions there," Simon rolled his eyes. "Besides, Magnus likes Alec a lot, I think he's actually going to ask him out. Whereas I simply want to get into the guitarist pants. And we all know that's all you want from the drummer as well, given your no dating rule and all."

"Eh, who likes dating?" Clary made a face. "Eighty percent of people date just for the sex afterwards. It's much more fun if everyone is just up front with what they want, right from the start."

"I'm pretty sure those statistics are completely wrong," Simon quirked an eyebrow at her and Clary just stuck her tongue out at him. "So is that what you're going to be with him? Up front with what you want?"

"We'll see how things go," Clary shrugged with a smirk.


	4. Chapter 4

Clary had a cigarette between her lips as she kicked her feet up on the couch. Her TV was turned on,  _Hemlock Grove_  turned down low so it was just background noise as she picked up her sketch pad and a couple of pencils. She had the rough sketch she had drawn back when in her studio with Jace, and now she had to get it perfected. She glanced at the sketch she had drawn with Jace and then started working on her new one. It wasn't an overly complicated design, and in all honesty she would be able to just go off the sketch she had already done and just fill in the blanks if she was that kind of artist, but she was a perfectionist when it came to her art and when it came to the stories that she was tattooing on peoples skin, so she spent over an hour making sure it was exactly what she imagined he wanted.

Sometime around seven she ordered pizza, and the usual guy from her favourite parlour came up and they flirted a little. He was about her age, his name was Sam, and he was pretty cute, in a baby faced kind of way. He always brought her garlic bread for free and made not-so-subtle hints about how he would like to see for himself if she had any more tattoo's under her shirt. It was harmless and fun, and Clary always had a smile on her face after her left.

Simon text her before eight to say that he might have done a little bit of stalking online and he found a couple of videos that were shot at gigs for the  _Downworlders_. Clary managed to restrain herself for all of three minutes—and one pizza slice—before she picked up her laptop and opened up Youtube. She searched for the user that Simon had messaged her and found the videos that he was talking about. None of them were particularly good quality, in sound or in visual, but they did the trick, and she could make out the band members and the songs they were doing. She found some of the related videos as well, and then there was one that was clearly filmed by a girl who was head over heels in love with the drummer.

With Jace.

It was completely understandable why, and it was hilarious listening to the drunk girl commentate as she zoomed in on Jace, the video shaking as she jumped up and down to the music.

_Are you watching videos of them?_

Clary laughed at the text from Simon, not bothering to respond. Then another one came in, making her laugh again.

_You don't even need to respond because I already know you are. Probably checking him out and imagining all sorts of dirty things, you perv._

She tossed her phone to the side and went back to watching the video. They were now playing a song that they had played the other night when they had been at their gig, albeit the quality was terrible because of the screaming and shouting from the rest of the crowd. But that was okay, because Clary could still make out those long, elegant fingers, wrapped around the drum sticks that she had been lucky to get a close up look at. Every now and then when he wasn't thrashing away at the drum set, he twirled the drum sticks around, fingers flicking, and Clary was hit with a wave of dirty thoughts all over again about the things those fingers could do to her.

She clicked the metal ball against her teeth and shifted her eyes on the screen. Raphael and Isabelle were bantering on stage between the next song and Clary's eyebrow raised at the way Raphael's eyes focused more on the girls cleavage than her face.

And this was the guy that Simon seemed interested in.

Raphael's hair wasn't the bright red colour that it was now, and when she looked at the date in the corner of the screen, she could see that it had been posted almost a year ago. It was black and floppy, falling over his face. Isabelle's hair wasn't shaved on one side, although she still had the streaks of colour. The video kept playing, it seemed as though the girl had been there for the whole concert it seemed, because the video was still going as the band was thanking everyone and saying goodnight. Jace looked gorgeous, and her eyes strayed over to the hoop in the corner of his lip, and the casual way that he tucked the drumsticks into his back pocket of his ripped skinny jeans.

As they were walking off the stage, Alec threw his arm around Jace's shoulder and the pair of them said something to each other, laughing. Clary watched the way the jeans tugged to his ass, and then her eyes moved over to where Raphael and Isabelle were walking out off the stage as well, behind Jace and Alec, Clary noticed the way that Raphael's hand had reached out and hooked a couple of fingers into the band of her jeans, fingers idly resting against her ass.

So obviously the two of them were together, at least at the time. She hoped that they weren't still together now, for Simon's sake, because it had been a while since her friend had gotten laid, and even longer by someone as hot and as experienced as Raphael looked.

Clary finished off almost the whole pizza—Kaelie and Magnus continually complained about how much she managed to eat and still keep her slim figure—and got up from the couch to put the rest of the pizza into a plastic container and then into the fridge. She curled back up on the couch for another few hours with her sketch book on her lap, _Hemlock Grove_  still playing in the background but she wasn't particularly interested in it. She only kept making her way through the series because she thought vampire guy was beautiful to look at. The werewolf guy was pretty good looking as well, in a ragged kind of way.

Clary lit up another cigarette, opening up the lounge window that lead out onto the fire escape. She really needed to open the windows more, especially when she was smoking, because there was always this lingering scent of cigarette smoke and weed in the apartment, mingled together with the incense she burned on a regular basis. Probably wasn't what her landlord wanted, but the guy never came around, so she figured she would deal with that problem when it occurred.

Besides, she  _liked_  the smell of her apartment, and so did the rest of her friends. It was relaxing, and smelt like home, and when they were all gathered together at her place they were all generally smoking cigarettes or joints anyway.

It was almost midnight by the time she turned off her TV and made a half assed attempt to clean up her art things in the lounge. She shuffled her papers into a pile and put her pencils into the chipped cup that had Dave Franco's face printed on it—a present from Kaelie a couple of months ago. She looked around and made a face, making a mental note that she probably needed to give her lounge a proper clean this weekend and the carpet  _definitely_  needed a vacuum before her eyes landed on the sketch book on top of her papers, still flipped open to her most recent page.

Jace's tattoo.

Which brought back all sorts of thoughts about Jace, and his toned torso, and his soft mouth, and  _those fingers_.

It only took Clary a few minutes to strip out of her clothes and get her shower to the right temperature before stepping over the edge of the tub and walking down to the end where the shower was running. She got the simple things like washing her hair and shaving under her arms out of the way in the first part of her shower before letting her mind drift back to Jace. She had absolutely no problem with shamelessly imagining all the things she wanted him to do to her—it had been a month or so since she had had sex, but she had a good history to build on.

She lathered up her hands with her citrus-scented body wash, initially starting with actual washing before her hands starting wandering lower. One of her hands skimmed over her lower lips, her fingers light and teasing, not parting her folds, just running her index finger softly over her slit. She felt that spark in the pit of her stomach flare up and the red head instinctively spread her legs apart to give herself better access. The hand that wasn't between her legs went to one of her breasts, sliding over her slippery skin as she massaged the underside of her breast.

Clary played over her clit, feather light with the tip of her finger as the fire in her stomach grew and began spreading through her veins. She lifted her leg to balance it on the edge of the bath tub and unhooked the shower head—one of her favourite bathroom accessories. She tugged at her nipple while she angled the shower head between her legs, right over her clit.

Golden haired boys with long fingers skillfully spinning drumsticks danced behind her eyelids as she leaned her head back against the wall.

It didn't take long before she was dropping the shower head and it was bouncing off against the wall, and her legs were shaking as she came, slumping back against the wall as the shocks ran through her body.


	5. Chapter 5

"Come on, move your ass," Alec grunted, shifting in annoyance as Jace flirted with a couple of blonde girls. They hadn't even made it into the club yet and they had been here for almost half an hour. He had considered not even bringing Jace, because it was _always like this_ , but after he had mentioned that Clary was going to be there, he had insisted on coming. However, despite his enthusiasm to see the red head again, they were still stuck outside.

"Okay, well, maybe I'll see you around," Jace finally looked as though he was ready to head inside.

"Yeah, you should call me," the first blonde said, who was wearing a sparkling purple dress and looked the epitome of trashy, with her ass hanging out underneath the hem and purple eye shadow caked on her eyelids.

"Or you could call us both," suggested the second blonde, who was in a green dress which covered a little bit more than the first's did, but not by too much.

"That sounds like a plan," Jace smirked, sliding his phone into his back pocket and leaning forward to give them each a kiss on the cheek. Alec made an exasperated noise when Jace finally started moving toward the club again, and Jace just grinned, nudging him in the side with his elbow. "They said that they saw us performing here a few weeks ago."

"Oh great, so they're groupies?" Alec rolled his eyes and Jace just grinned. He contemplated asking Alec to wait, give him some time to smoke a cigarette, but he knew that Alec wanted to get inside and see this guy he was still saying  _wasn't_  his boyfriend. The bouncer at the door recognized them, given they played at this club once or twice a month, and he grinned and let them in without paying. There was no live music tonight, and if there had been, Jace doubted they would be able to sing with the amount of smoke that was choking up the air in the club tonight. It was hot and even though the air conditioning was turned on, it was barely making a difference given how busy it was. "You know what's funny?" Alec said, his mouth close to Jace's ear so that he would be able to hear him over the music and shouting in the club.

"What?!" Jace asked, lifting his voice to be heard.

"Those girls think you're gonna call them," Alec smirked, the spinning lights catching the purple streaks that were through his ebony hair. He didn't have his usual heavy make up on tonight that he did when they were performing, but there was still something sparkling around his eyes that made the blue in them pop.

"Maybe I will," Jace shrugged, trying to act nonchalant, but his cousin knew him better than that. It had been  _months_  since Jace had been with anyone, and even though he was probably the biggest flirt on the planet, Alec knew that it had been a long time since there had been any follow through with Jace's sultry smiles and sweet words. Jace followed after Alec, keeping close to his cousin as they wound their way toward the bar. The lights were so dim they barely broke through the haze of smoke that was hanging over the club. Jace loved this club, but he had no idea how they were still operating, given how many fire regulations they broke on a regular basis. Two guys were dancing together, tongues practically shoved down on anothers throats, the sweat on their bodies pretty much gluing them together. They edged around them and reached the bar, which was just as messy as the dance floor.

"Magnus!" Alec shouted, and Jace squinted, wondering how Alec had managed to find his lover in the throngs of people and the fog. But somehow, he had, because there was Magnus, wearing a black v-neck shirt, the 'v' in the shirt so deep that it almost reached his stomach. There was a smattering of chest hair showing and...Jace squinted, wondering if it was just the lights playing tricks with his eyes, because it looked as though there was glitter on the Indonesian's man chest as well.

"Alexander," Magnus purred out. Jace couldn't actually  _hear_  Magnus' words, but he could make out what the other man said from the way his mouth moved, and then a second later, the pair of them were kissing. Jace grinned, not bothering to hide it. Alec hadn't always been comfortable with his sexuality, hiding the fact he was gay until they were about eighteen from everyone except for Jace, Isabelle and Raphael. Even now, he wasn't always so open about who he was dating, but Magnus seemed to draw him right out, which Jace was happy about. "Ooh, and Jace," Magnus finally pulled himself away from Alec, looking over the other mans shoulder and toward Jace. "The rest of us are over there," he jerked his head back. Jace followed his gaze but couldn't quite make out anyone he recognized. There were just shapes of people jumping, dancing and kissing. "Let's go," Magnus gripped Alec's hand, linking their fingers together, and leading the way.

And there she was.

Clary.

Shit, she was fucking beautiful.

The first time he had seen her, he knew that she was gorgeous, even though she wasn't the most outwardly prettiest girl he had ever seen. But there was just something about her, this aura that surrounded her that set her apart. There was something so fearless and free about her expression, her head tipped back as she wrapped her arms around a blonde girls shoulders. The blonde was the one from the tattoo parlor, she had worked at reception, and she was beautiful as well, but it was Clary that kept drawing Jace's eyes.

She was wearing a halter dress that showed off her arms and was completely backless, her tattoo's on full display, the leather cuffs and bracelets around her wrists sliding up her arms as she lifted them above her head, twisting her hips from side to side. There was a third dancer, a male, and he moved up to stand behind the blonde, the three of them all dancing together in sync. He had hair past his shoulders, and the tops of his ears were pierced with delicate, linked chains hanging from them, and he circled his arms around both the blonde and Clary. His fingers were touching the tattoo's on Clary's back and Jace desperately wanted to be the one doing that, tracing her tattoo's...Preferably with his tongue, but he would settle for his hands.

"Eye problem much?" Jace almost jumped at the voice in his ear, and Magnus' white teeth flashed as he smirked. "She's single, if you're wondering," Magnus offered. Clary laughed at something the long haired man said, nuzzling her face into the blonde's neck before she seemed to realize that there were eyes on them. She looked over in their direction, seeing Jace for the the first time, and her lips twisted into a smile. She poked out her tongue playfully, the spinning spot lights catching the silver ball from the piercing and the thought of that tongue and piercing on him sent a hot spike toward his groin.

"Come dance!" Clary shouted out, and even though they were only a couple of metres away, Jace could only just hear her. When he looked to his left, Magnus and Alec were backed up against the booth, Alec sitting on one of the bar stools, completely wrapped up in one another. He had a fleeting thought, hoping that Alec would actually make things official with Magnus, and then he was walking toward Clary. She spun away from the blonde and the man, throwing her arms around Jace's neck as though they were old friends. She smelt good, a little like sweat, a little like cigarette smoke, and then there was the flowery perfume that she was wearing that brought it all together. Clary leaned in, her lips brushing against his ear, and his face was close to her right shoulder, seeing the coloured ink lines covering her skin. "I was wondering when you would show up." Jace turned his head, not wanting to pull away, talking directly into his ear, his mouth close to the piercings that were up and down her ears.

"You knew that I was coming?" He asked.

"Magnus might have mentioned it," Clary pulled away from him and gave him a coy grin. She turned around, and for a moment, Jace wondered if she was going to dance away from him, go back and join her friends, but, no.

It was so much better.

She settled her ass into his lap, grinding down hard against him in an experienced way, and she reached one hand backwards, wrapping it around his neck, her finger nails raising goosebumps down his spine. He was only human; a beautiful girl was pressed up against him and moving in time to the thumping, heavy beat—he was most  _definitely_  hard.

Jace managed to get his body to catch up with the present, resting both hands on her waist and holding her firmly against him. Clary turned her head half to the side, and there was a smile on her lips, which were painted a dark colour. Jace couldn't tear his eyes away from her face, at the way her eyelashes seemed to go on forever, and they were incredibly dark, framing her green eyes that shone so bright when the lights caught them. After a few more swipes of the lights spinning over them, Jace processed that the pupils of her eyes were dilated, and her body temperature was high—higher than it should be, even with the dancing and the crowded room.

"You on something?" He managed to get out, although he might have stuttered a little, especially when she ground her ass backwards, harder against his crotch than last time. His hands shifted forward, one of his hands splaying out over her stomach, inching downwards.

"Might have taken something that makes the lights a bit brighter," Clary sung out teasingly, pursing her lips together in a way that made him want to reach forward and taste her mouth. He could imagine that she would taste amazing—fuck, she  _smelt_  and  _felt_  amazing, of  _course_  she would taste amazing. She was sweating slightly, beading at her hair line, and he wanted to lick at it, slide his hands under the slinky dress she was wearing and rip down the underwear that she was wearing.

"How many tattoo's do you have?" Jace wasn't too sure  _why_  he was still trying to make conversation, because the music was so loud, and they kept getting bumped around by the crowd around them. Sometimes it was hard to even see Clary properly given how heavy the smoke in the club was, and that the only light was coming from the spinning spot lights.

"Maybe one day you can count them," Clary said, and he only heard parts of what she said, but he managed to make out the rest of her words from the way her lips moved.

"One day?" Jace asked, letting one of his hands slip down further, nearing her thighs, curving his body around her petite one, wanting  _so bad_  to drag her off the dance floor and toward one of the dark alcoves at the edges.

"Yeah, one day," Clary smirked, slapping at his hands lightly that were getting too close to the hem of her skirt. "When you're not my client anymore." Jace tried not to let out a groan too loudly—although if it was in annoyance or in anticipation, he wasn't too sure—and just let her lead the way, grinding her body against his, filling his mind with a thousand fantasies that were definitely going to keep him company in the nights of the weeks to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your comments make me happy xx


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapters up , pretty people !

Clary had been working on the sketch on and off ever since Jace had come into the tattoo parlor. She had played with different parts of the New York skyline, and how to do the pocket watch frame, and she had two different versions of the tattoo to give to Jace, to see which one he wanted. The words,  _carpe noctem_ , were easy enough to do, but she had scrawled them out in a couple of varying fonts for Jace to choose from. Jace made an appointment with Kaelie when he had come in last, and he was due to be in in half an hour. She'd finished up early with her last appointment, and so she had some time to kill. She was just heading outside with her cigarettes and a lighter when her phone vibrated.

_So, I might have run into Raphael when I was going out for coffee._

Clary snorted as she looked down at the text from Simon. She propped a cigarette between her lips and lit up the end, putting the pack and the lighter down on the rickety, old picnic table that they had moved into the tiny courtyard out the pack and then tapped out a reply.

_Did you tell him that you wanted his babies?_

She didn't have to wait long for a response.

_I haven't quite got as far as discussing our future children, but we're going out to lunch now. I'll text you later._

Clary grinned, tucking her phone into her back pocket and sucked on her cigarette. Simon's sexuality was pretty fluid, similar to Clary's, although Clary definitely been with more guys than girls, while Simon's choices were quite even. She still wasn't sure if there was something going on between Raphael and Isabelle, given what she had seen in the videos, and even if they weren't a thing now, they still worked closely together, and things can rekindle easily. But if Simon was just after something casual, it didn't matter if there were some feelings between them, it could just be a fun fling.

Clary finished off her cigarette and snubbed it out in the glass cigarette tray on the picnic table, heading back into the tattoo parlor. Music was playing loudly in the reception area of the parlor, some screaming girl rock band that Kaelie got all wet for. Magnus was working intently on a tall man with a thick beard and a shaved head, the tattoo gun buzzing against the skin of his shoulder. Clary smiled at the intensity on his friends face before continuing past to her own room.

"Clary!" Came Kaelie's voice after Clary had washing her hands and was drying them on a towel. "Your next appointment's here!" She appeared in the doorway, wiggling her pierced eyebrows and then sticking out her tongue and making a lewd movement. "You want me to bring him in...Turn the music up loud so we don't hear you riding him?" Clary pulled the fingers at her friend and Kaelie snorted. She disappeared again, and then Jace came through the door a few moments later.

"Hey," Jace greeted her with a half smile.

"Hey," Clary flashed him a smile and nodded at the papers that she had in a pile on the small desk against a wall. "So I did a couple of sketches, just sort of adapting what you already wanted. Find one and let me know which one you like, or if you don't like any of them and want me to make some changes." Jace nodded and picked up three of the loose-leaf paper and flicked through them. She had done multiple sketches, all with little differences, the pocket watch shaped slightly differently from sketch to sketch.

"This one," Jace pointed at one of the pictures, which was done at an angle the featured the Brooklyn bridge.

"You sure? There's nothing different that you want me to do with the picture? You don't want me to make any changes?" Clary asked as she pulled out two white, disposable gloves from the box beside the sink.

"No, it's great. And this one," Jace gestured at the calligraphy of the words, ' _carpe noctem_ ', choosing one of the last options on the piece of paper. Clary nodded as she gestured for him to sit down on the seat in the middle of the room. It was already in an upright position, given the tattoo for the last client had been on the back of the clients shoulder. Jace took a seat, and whipped off the shirt he was wearing, letting it rest on his lap. Clary blinked as she was now presented with Jace's bare torso, the tattoo's all over his skin, telling different stories of his life, and then the piercing through one of his nipples. She blinked again, swallowing hard and trying to clear her mind of any unprofessional thoughts that were threatening to rise.

"Okay, so I'm assuming you know how all of this works?" She began as she moved to stand in front of him . "I need to clean down the area that you want me to work with, and then shave it for any hairs. Then I'll make a copy of the design that you want, print it onto some thermal paper and then we'll get it transferred to your skin. After you're happy with where the design is, then we can start on the actual tattooing. Do you have any questions?"

"Nope," Jace shook his head, looking completely relaxed in the chair in front of her. That was good, it just made matters worse when they were tense. She absolutely loved being the first one to make a mark on a persons skin, it was like being able to be a part of something that was always going to live on with them, but it was always good working with someone who was experienced with tattoos and knew what to expect.

"So where do you want me to do this?" Clary stood in front of Jace, tilting her head to the side as she looked him over. She could make herself turn into a professional when she was officially working—she had tattooed a hundred attractive guys and girls, in a hundred different places—and she was able to separate her feelings from her work. However that didn't mean that she didn't get turned on at times, when she was working on a client. It was a thrill that ran through her skin as the machine buzzed under her fingers and she saw the ink sink into someone's skin, slowly putting together a story that would stay with them forever.

"The words, I wanted them here," Jace turned his arm outwards and one of his long fingers pointed to the soft flesh of his inner arm. Clary nodded as she straddled the stool next to Jace, taking his hand in hers and stretching out her arm so she could look properly where he wanted the tattoo. He was pointing to an empty space of skin, next to some musical notes that were curling up and around his forearm, and what looked like a licence plate.

"And the other one?" Clary asked.

"Uh, behind my shoulder, next to the butterfly," Jace replied and Clary nodded again as she got up and moved around to stand behind him, her fingers pressing against his shoulder. She hummed under her breath as she backed away from him, toward her station against the wall.

"Do you want to have music playing?" She asked.

"Yeah," Jace agreed.

"Any preferences?" She continued as she picked up her iPod, which was plugged into an aux cord that was connected to speakers.

"Just whatever," Jace continued as he wiggled around in the seat, making himself comfortable. Clary found one of her playlists, turning the volume on the speakers down to a low volume, since she had been in here by herself just before and had the music turned up loud. She worked quickly and efficiently, making a stencil of the first tattoo, planning on taking them one at a time. When she came back over to Jace, he seemed completely prepared for her, holding out his arm in the same position she had moved it to, and after looking up at him from under her eyelashes a couple of times to judge exactly where he wanted the tattoo, she moistened the skin with some water and pressed the stencil against his skin.

"Okay," she murmured, more to herself as she made sure the stencil was pressed firmly against his skin, and then pulled it away once it was transferred. The outline was in bluish colouring, and Clary looked up at Jace. "Is that where you want it?"

"Yup," Jace nodded.

"Are you sure?" Clary pushed, because she always confirmed twice, given sometimes clients would just agree with her because they didn't want to be too much of a hassle. But Jace just raised an eyebrow at her before nodding again. "Alright," Clary turned away from Jace and going back to her bench, taking off the bracelets that were on both of her wrists. She had so many that it took her almost half a minute to take them all off, clattering against the metal top of the bench top.

"You wear a lot of those," Jace commented idly. "Doesn't it make more sense to keep them off through the day, than just take them off and put the back on again?" Clary paused, pressing her lips together as she stared down at her wrists, and then shrugged.

"Doesn't bother me," she replied as she finished taking off the bracelets from both arms, pulling on the gloves and then turning back around to face Jace. The whole area where Jace was sitting had been sterilized before he had sat down, put she still picked up antiseptic and sprayed down her area before sitting down on the stool and making sure Jace had his arm resting comfortably on the cushioned arm rest. "You alright like this? You comfortable?" Jace nodded his head and Clary gave him a flash of a smile before picking up her tattooing machine, already filled with ink and ready.

The machine vibrated in her hand as Clary began tracing the stencil that she had pressed against his skin. The tattoo itself didn't take very long, given it was only a small one, the pocket watch with the outline would take longer, given how much shading would need to go into it. It took almost twenty-five minutes, with Clary pausing every few minutes wipe away excess ink with a paper towel and refill her needle a couple of times. Jace watched her intently, each time she would wipe away the ink she would catch him looking at her, but once she began working again, she could no longer feel his eyes on the top of her head.

After she finished the first tattoo, she spread some cream over the tattoo and wrapped it, not bothering to go through the after care instructions just yet, given she still had one to go. She asked Jace if he needed a break between the tattoo's, if he wanted to go out for a cigarette, but he said he was fine. Clary cleaned down the area again, taking off her gloves as she worked on the next stencil.

She was glad when Jace was quiet, not wanting to talk, because she liked to be in her own head when she was working. Some of her clients liked to talk, and she would oblige, because their comfort came before anything else, but she worked better when she could just focus on her work, and the music was the only noise going on.

Clary pressed on the tattoo into Jace's shoulder where he pointed, and then lead him over to a long mirror than hung, almost from ceiling to floor, and Jace looked at the reflection, peering at where she had pressed the tattoo. The few minutes away from the seat in the middle of the room and the stool where she usually sat, were enough to pull Clary out of her 'working' mindset, even if it was just for a few minutes. She let her eyes drift down, over his toned back and the rippling muscles, taking in the twining black ink. When she lifted her eyes back to Jace's face, he was smirking at her in the mirror, clearing knowing exactly what she was doing. Clary didn't even bother to try and hide it, smirking back before waving her hand at the blueish-purple stencil outline.

"This good?" She asked.

"Perfect," Jace was still smirking at her Clary. The red head only just managed to restrain herself from rolling her eyes. They both settled back down in the middle of the room, and then Clary got to work. Almost another hour passed, Jace's skin hot under her fingertips, and then she finished with the second tattoo.

"Go check it out," Clary told him, holding off on covering the tattoo, so that he could go and look in the mirror. She went over to the sink, taking off her gloves and throwing them in the trash, pulling on her bracelets after she dried her hands. "Okay, so, I'm assuming you know about the cream and aftercare?" She asked as she turned back around to face Jace. "Kaelie will go through it with you anyway, on your way out."

"Yeah, uh," Jace picked up his shirt from where it was slung over the back of the chair. "Look, I was wondering if you wanted to go out for dinner or something?" Clary's eyebrows lifted.

"Oh, really?" She let out a snort and shook her head as she moved to stand behind him, quickly taking care of the tattoo and covering it with a loose gauze.

"Really," Jace nodded as he pulled his shirt on and turned back around to face her. "You said when I'm not your client. And, well, I'm not your client anymore."

"I never said I would go out on a date with you when you weren't my client anymore," Clary reminded him with pursed lips. Jace looked a little uncertain, although he kept that cocky smile on his beautiful mouth, the studs on one side of his lip and the ring on the other side glinting in the light from above. "Look, I'm not big on the whole dinner date thing. But if you've got a gig coming up, I can come."

"Great," Jace picked up his phone and handed it over to her. "Put in your number. I'll send you the details." Clary took in from him, and added her number, passing it back to him before stepping away and waving at the door.

"I'll see you later," she told him pointedly, keeping her smile hidden until after he had sauntered out of the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think :)

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think x


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